MIT researchers unveiled something earlier this month
that will please toddlers and serious urban planners alike. It’s a model
of Dudley Square—a neighborhood in the
greater Boston area—about the size of a kitchen table. The roads,
sidewalks, bus stations, and buildings are all made out of Lego blocks. Wee Lego figures represent pedestrians. Laid over it all is a computer-generated projection of the actual neighborhood, filling in the details of current green space and traffic in Dudley Square.
The project is a collaboration between the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, the Changing Places group at the MIT Media Lab, and the Barr Foundation, all of whom are are using the new tool to test how bus-rapid transit systems could affect the city.The test includes three components, each representing the city ofBoston on a different scale.There’s
the Lego model of Dudley Square, another 3-D model (also made of Legos)
of a Boston street, and a touchscreen interface to illustrate the
potential effects of different plans on a regional scale—such as how
changes to public transit might affect people’s access to jobs.

(Ariel Noyman/MIT Media Lab)The
models are all available for the public to explore—and see how their
own lives might benefit or suffer from certain plans. On the
touchscreen, for example, viewers can point to a specific part of the
city and have the computer tell them how many jobs they can get to from
that spot via proposed public transportation. They can then fiddle with
the model to see how different transit systems and route networks affect
their commute.
“And then they can say, ‘Well, what if I added these new transit
routes, and what if I change the frequency of the buses, and how much
would it cost?’” explains Chris Zegras, professor of
transportation and urban planning at MIT, who leads the project team.
The information, he adds, come from publicly available data.
On the two Lego components, users can switch out different pieces
representing various types of bus stops—from traditional ones to
high-tech stations where riders pay before they board—and watch the
simulated change in traffic flow directly on the Lego platform. Data
about the bus station’s efficiency is also projected on nearby screens.

The aim is to make the urban planning process more transparent by getting everyone involved—not just experts like Zegras. “Part
of our idea with introducing these types of tools is to break away from
the technocratic model of planning,” he says. “So we’ve try to make a
very initial foray into opening up those processes a bit more.”

And what’s more accessible and familiar than Legos? “The platform lowers the the threshold of participation because every kid knows how to move a Lego piece,” says Phil Tinn, a masters student at MIT, who is also part of the team.

(Phil Tinn/MIT Media Lab)Over
the past week, the researchers opened their lab to the public, inviting
both residents and local policymakers to play with the interactive
tools. The response so far has been positive, Zegras says. “The
interactivity allowed users to see those changes, to play with those
changes, and to look at the estimates of what the cost of those changes
would be.”
“Our ultimate objective is this idea of co-creation,” he adds.
“Having producers and consumers work intimately together in the
production of a good creates a better good. We would like that to happen
in how we produce 21st century transit systems.”

The
touchscreen component tells users how long it would take to get to
different parts of the city and how much the commute would cost. (Ariel
Noyman/MIT Media Lab)The street-level Lego model zooms in on how different bus stations change traffic flow. (Allentza Michel)The neighborhood-scale model was built by high schoolers from the Boston area. (Ariel Noyman/MIT Media Lab)Source: http://www.citylab.com/tech/2015/10/legos-as-a-legitimate-urban-planning-tool/410608/